The lack of real progress at the Durban climate change conference in 2011—postponing effective action until at least 2020—has many causes, one of which is the failure to address trade issues and, in particular, carbon leakage. This paper advances two arguments. First, it argues that the...

Economic crises have historically set the stage for the reconfiguration of the economic borders of the state. Current concerns focus on debt and associated intergenerational issues, such as pensions, infrastructure, and the environment. The sustainable state is designed to put in place a...

U.K. energy policy in the 1980s is reviewed in the light of the principal market failures in the energy sector--monopoly, fuel diversity, security of supply and externalities. The analysis is largely confined to the non-oil sectors. It is observed that the presence of excess capacity enabled the...

The article provides a critique of British environmental policy, focusing in particular on the role of sustainable development as an organizing principle, the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and economic instruments, and the design of the institutions responsible for implementing policy. It...

The paper sets out the credibility problem in carbon policy, provides a number of examples of non-credibility in recent energy policy, and identifies the costs of failing to address it. The time inconsistency of carbon policy--arising because of multiple objectives, the irreversibility of energy...

The article presents an overview and assessment of economic policy toward the environment. The first part reviews the core theoretical literature. A classification of environmental externalities, differentiated by institutional contexts, is presented. Conventional economic theory approaches are...

Recent events, such as the California energy crisis, the failures of the UK's railways, and the consequences of the third-generation (3G) mobile licence auctions, have called into question the European reliance on a strategy of network industry liberalization. Substantial concentration in energy...